Portable container with temperature regulator

ABSTRACT

A portable container ( 100, 200 ) includes an insulative body ( 102 ) to hold a food item. The insulative body ( 102 ) may include an inner wall and an outer wall. Further, the portable container ( 100, 200 ) includes a temperature regulator ( 110 ) disposed between the inner wall and the outer wall of the insulative body ( 102 ). The portable container ( 100, 200 ) also includes a plurality of temperature sensors ( 202 ) disposed within the inner wall of the insulative body ( 102 ). The plurality of temperature sensors ( 202 ) being operably coupled to the temperature regulator ( 110 ). Further, the portable container ( 100, 200 ) includes a controller ( 210 ) communicatively coupled to the temperature regulator ( 110 ) to regulate the temperature of the food item based on a user input.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present subject matter relates, in general, to portable containers,and, particularly but not exclusively, to a portable container with atemperature regulator.

BACKGROUND

Portable containers are usually used to carry food items, such as solidas well as liquid items, during journeys. Examples of the food items mayinclude, but is not limited to, water, beverages, and snacks. Suchportable containers come handy when a person has to carry any food itemduring a journey. Many portable containers employ insulating members tomaintain the temperature of the food item. The insulating members keepsthe food item isolated from ambient conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The following detailed description references the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a portable container,according to an example implementation of the present subject matter;and

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a portable container, according toan example implementation of the present subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, people carry food items while travelling either forrecreational purposes or when their jobs demands travelling. The fooditems may include any solid food item, such as snacks, baby food as wellas liquid items, such as soups, beverages, and water. For example,people carry food items for being consumed either while travelling or ata later point in time. While portable containers enable people to carryfood items, such containers do not facilitate in maintaining atemperature of the food item being carried. For example, if a person iscarrying a hot beverage while travelling, the hot beverage may coolafter certain time.

In order to maintain the temperature of the food items for a longerperiod of time, portable containers are provided with insulatingmembers. For example, a vacuum flask includes an insulating member thatlengthens the time over which the food item in the container remainshotter or cooler. Such insulating members keep the food item isolatedfrom the outside temperature and maintain the temperature of the fooditem in the container. However, the insulating member is unable tomaintain the temperature of the food item for a long time, especially inextreme weather conditions. In situations, where the users are carryingthe food items in long journeys, the thermal insulating flasks may notserve the intended purpose.

Moreover, conventional portable containers with insulating members maynot enable a user to set a temperature of the food item being carried inthe portable container. This may be inconvenient to the users as theinsulating members prevent a user from getting to know a currenttemperature of the food item. As a result, the user may burn theirtongue due to hot food item or may experience bad taste due to extremecold food item.

Various implementations of the present subject matter describe aportable container for a food item. The food item may include soliditems as well as liquid items, including beverages. The portablecontainer of the present subject matter includes a temperature regulatoras well as a plurality of temperature sensors. The plurality oftemperature sensors may detect the temperature of the food item withinthe portable container. The portable container may further include acharging unit that may be capable of being charged wirelessly.

In an implementation, the temperature regulator is embedded within theportable container to regulate a temperature of the food item inside theportable container to a desired temperature. A user may select a desiredtemperature for being maintained within the portable container. Onceselected, the temperature sensors may continuously sense the temperatureof the food item to determine whether the desired temperature ismaintained or not. If the temperature of the food item varies from thedesired temperature, the charging unit may turn ON the temperatureregulator till the desired temperature is achieved.

In addition, the portable container may include a wireless transceiverto communicate with an electronic device, such as a mobile phone. Thewireless transceiver may be configured to share information pertainingto the food item, with the electronic device. The information so sharedmay be accessed through an application on the electronic device. Theapplication enables the user to change settings of the portablecontainer, such as a temperature to which the food item is to be heatedor cooled.

Accordingly, the present subject matter provides a compact and portablecontainer for carrying a food item. In addition, the temperatureregulator of the container facilitates in regulating a temperature ofthe food item on-the-go. The present subject matter further enables auser to communicate with the portable container through an applicationloaded on an electronic device.

The present subject matter is further described with reference to theaccompanying figures. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals areused in the figures and the following description to refer to the sameor similar parts. It should be noted that the description and figuresmerely illustrate principles of the present subject matter. It is thusunderstood that various arrangements may be devised that, although notexplicitly described or shown herein, encompass the principles of thepresent subject matter. Moreover, all statements herein recitingprinciples, aspects, and examples of the present subject matter, as wellas specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalentsthereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a portable container 100,according to an example implementation of the present subject matter.The portable container 100 may be employed for maintaining a desiredtemperature of the food item. In an example, the food item may be aliquid item, such as a beverage or water. Examples of the beverage mayinclude, but are not limited to, coffee, tea, milk, lemonade, and hotchocolate. In another example, the food item may be a solid item, suchas baby food and rice.

In an implementation, the portable container 100 includes an insulativebody 102 to hold a food item, such as beverages or snacks or baby food.In an implementation, the insulative body 102 may be double walled,i.e., made of two walls (not shown). For example, the insulative body102 may include an inner wall and an outer wall. The inner wall may bemade of a stainless steel material. In an example, the outer wall may bemade of thermal insulation materials such as a plastic material. Theouter wall thereby protects a user from any accidental burns. It may benoted that the inner wall and the outer wall may be made of any othersuitable material.

Further, the portable container 100 includes a lid 104. The lid 104covers the insulative body 102 of the portable container 100 to preventthe food item, such as a liquid item, from spilling. In animplementation, the lid 104 may be removably coupled to a top portion106 of the insulative body 102. In an example, the lid 104 may bescrewed at a neck portion (not shown) of the insulative body 102. In anexample, the portable container 100 may include a handle 108 that mayfacilitate in easy handling of the portable container 100.

In an implementation, the portable container 100 may include atemperature regulator 110, such as a thermostat, disposed between theinner wall and the outer wall of the insulative body 102. For instance,the temperature regulator 110 may be placed along a length of theportable container 100, as shown in FIG. 1. Though the temperatureregulator 110 is depicted to be placed along the length of the portablecontainer 100, it may be understood that the temperature regulator 110may be disposed on any suitable portion of the portable container 100.The temperature regulator 110 may facilitate in maintaining a desiredtemperature of the food item within the portable container 100. Exampleof the temperature regulator 110, may include, but is not limited toNichrome.

Further, the portable container 100 may include a plurality oftemperature sensors (hereinafter referred to as temperature sensors)disposed within the inner wall of the insulative body 102. In anexample, the temperature sensors may be operably coupled to thetemperature regulator 110. The temperature sensors may sense thetemperature of the food item within the insulative body 102 based onwhich the temperature of the food item may be regulated. In an example,the portable container 100 may include additional sensors for detectingdifferent aspects related to the food item within the portable container200. For example, the sensors may detect a weight of a food item withinthe portable container 200.

The portable container 100 may further include a charging unit 112 tocharge the portable container 100. In an implementation, the chargingunit 112 may be charged wirelessly, such as through induction, magneticresonance, ultrasound, or radio waves. For instance, the charging unit112 may be a wireless coil. In an example, the charging unit 112 may bepositioned at a bottom portion 114 of the portable container 100. Theportable container 100 may also include one or more power storageelements 116 coupled to the charging unit 112. In an example, the powerstorage element 116 may be a battery, such as a Lithium Ion battery.

Further, the portable container 100 may include a display area 118 fordisplaying information pertaining to the food item within the portablecontainer 100. For instance, in various non-limiting examples, thedisplay area 118 may display a desired temperature that may be set by auser. The display area 118 may also display a current temperature of thefood item in the portable container 100. The current temperature may beunderstood as an average temperature of two temperatures that may besensed at a top portion 106 and a bottom portion 114 respectively, ofthe portable container 100. The display area 118 may also display aweight of the food item within the portable container 100.

The portable container 100 may further include a plurality of buttons120. For example, the portable container 100 may include a power button120-1 for turning ON or OFF the temperature regulator 110. The portablecontainer 100 may also include a mode button 120-2 for selecting apreset temperature for regulating the temperature of the food item. Thepreset temperatures may be provided for various temperatures of the fooditem, such as a normal temperature, warm, hot, and so on. In addition,the portable container 100 may include control buttons 120-3 forcontrolling or adjusting a temperature of the food item within theportable container 100. In an example, temperature of the food item iscontrolled based on a hysteresis temperature. The hysteresis temperatureprevents the temperature regulator 110 from turning ON and OFF whentemperature of the food item inside the portable container 100 is withina pre-defined range from the desired temperature.

In an implementation, the portable container 100 may include one or morelight emitting diodes (LEDs) 122 mounted on a rim of the insulative body102. The LEDs 122 change color based on the temperature of the innerwall of the portable container 100 as well as the food item within thecontainer 100. The LEDs 122 indicate a temperature of the food iteminside the portable container 100. In an example, the temperaturesensors may be connected to the LEDs 122. The temperature sensors maysense the temperature of the food item within the insulative body 102and accordingly, the LEDs 122 may change their color to indicate thetemperature of the food item.

In an implementation, the portable container 100 may include acontroller (not shown) communicatively coupled to the temperatureregulator 110 to regulate the temperature of the food item based on auser input. In an example, the user may input a desired temperature ofthe food item through the buttons 120. The controller may obtain acurrent temperature of the food item from the temperature sensors. Thecurrent temperature of the food item is an average of the temperaturessensed at the top portion 106 and the bottom portion 114 of the portablecontainer 100. Based on the current temperature, the controller mayregulate the temperature of the food item.

It may be noted that the present subject matter is described inconjunction with a portable container, however, the present subjectmatter may be employed in various other fields. For example, the methodsand systems for regulating temperature may be implemented in stay hotlunch boxes, stay hot dinner sets, babies bottle warmers, medicalapplications, coffee houses, airlines, beverage suppliers, and the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the portable container 200,according to an example implementation of the present subject matter.The portable container 200 is similar to the portable container 100 ofFIG. 1. The portable container 200 may communicate with an electronicdevice, such as a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a tablet, asmartphone, a Personal Digital Assistant, and the like. In an example,the portable container 200 may communicate with the electronic devicethrough a communication network (not shown). The network may be awireless network, wired network, or a combination thereof. The networkcan be implemented as one of the different types of networks, such asintranet, telecom network, electrical network, local area network (LAN),wide area network (WAN), the Internet, and such.

In an example, the portable container 200 includes an insulative body,such as the insulative body 102. The insulative body 102 may hold thefood item therewithin. Further, the portable container 100 may include aplurality of temperature sensors 202 disposed on the insulative body102. In an example, the portable container 200 may include twotemperature sensors. One disposed near the top portion and another atthe bottom portion of the insulative body 102. The temperature sensors202 may facilitate in determination of a current temperature of the fooditem within the portable container 200. The current temperature may beunderstood as an average of the temperatures sensed at the top portionand the bottom portion of the insulative body 102.

In an implementation, the portable container 200 may include one or morelight emitting diodes (LEDs), such as the LEDs 122 mounted on a rim ofthe insulative body 102. The LEDs 122 change color based on thetemperature of the inner wall of the portable container 200 as well asthe food item within the container 100. The LEDs 122 indicate atemperature of the food item inside the portable container 200. In anexample, the temperature sensors 202 may be connected to the LEDs 122.The temperature sensors 202 may sense the temperature of the food itemwithin the insulative body 102 and accordingly, the LEDs 122 may changetheir color to indicate the temperature of the food item.

For example, the LEDs 122 at a rim of the insulative body 102 maytransform from being colorless to orange or red depending on thetemperature of the inner wall 104-1 and the food item. For instance,when the portable container 200 is powered OFF, the LEDs 122 will becolorless. In another example, the LEDs 122 will have blue color whenthe food item is cold, and so on. In an example, when the temperature is21 degrees Celsius, the LEDs 122 at the rim may be colorless, at 40degrees Celsius, the LEDs 122 may be dark orange, and so on.

Further, the portable container 200 may include the temperatureregulator 110 disposed between the inner wall and the outer wall of theinsulative body. The temperature regulator 110 may facilitate inregulating the temperature of the food item based on the user input. Inan example, the temperature regulator 110 may include heating elementsas well as cooling elements. In an example, four heating elements wereused in parallel to accommodate lower 3.7V nominal voltage of theportable container 200. The resistance of each heating element camearound 3.20 which yielded a total parallel resistance of about 800 mΩwhen all four heating elements were conducting. The heating elementsemployed in the present subject matter are created by center-taping a10×5 cm strip of a heating pad to yield 2 elements in parallel perstrip. In addition, each of the heating elements is provided with aseparate driver so the instantaneous power for heating can be set inabout 4 W increments.

In an example, the heating elements may include thermistors. Eachthermistor may connect to a 2-pin female header. In an example, thethermistor is a US Sensor PT103J2. Further, a heating coil of theheating element may be a modified Abracon AWCCA53N53H50C01 B. In anexample, the cooling elements of the temperature regulator 110 mayprovide thermoelectric cooling to the food item thereby facilitating inmaintaining the desired temperature. Examples of the cooling elementsmay include, but are not limited to, Peltier tiles or sheets. ThePeltier tiles operate according to the Peltier effect.

Further, the portable container 200 includes a charging unit, such asthe charging unit 112, for powering the portable container 200. Thecharging unit 112 may be capable of being charged wirelessly. In anexample, the charging unit 112 may include a wireless coil and awireless power receiver. In an implementation, the portable container200 of the present subject matter is also provided with a capability toadjust the current drawn from the charging unit 112 to accommodate poweravailable from an induction charger or a Qi charger. In an example, thecharging unit 112 is capable of receiving upto 15 W of power from the Qicharger.

The portable container 200 may also include a power storage element 116coupled to the charging unit 112. In an example, the power storageelement 116 may be a battery, such as a Lithium Ion battery. Theportable container 200 of the present subject matter utilizes a 1S2Pconfiguration for a two cell Li-Ion battery.

In one implementation, the portable container 200 includes aprocessor(s) 204, memory 206 coupled to the processor(s) 204, andinterface(s) 208. The processor(s) 204 may be implemented as one or moremicroprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries,and/or any systems that manipulate signals based on operationalinstructions. Among other capabilities, the processor(s) 204 may beconfigured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored inthe memory 206. Further, the processor 204 may be configured to managedifferent processes or activities of the portable container 200. Forexample, the processor 204 may receive a desired temperature of the fooditem as provided by the user. In an example, the user may use the modebuttons to provide the desired temperature. In another example, theprocessor 204 may obtain the desired temperature from the memory 206.

The memory 206 may include any computer-readable medium known in the artincluding, for example, volatile memory, such as static random accessmemory (SRAM), and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/ornon-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable ROM, flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, andmagnetic tapes. The memory 206 may be configured to store information,such as the temperature settings done by the user. In an example, theuser may store the temperature settings or any other preferred settingon the cloud. In an implementation, the portable container 200 mayfacilitate the user to access the preferred settings or to storeadditional settings or to modify existing settings on the cloud throughthe communication network.

Further, the interface(s) 208 may include a variety of software andhardware interfaces, for example, interfaces for peripheral system(s),such as a product board, a mouse, an external memory, and a printer.Additionally, the interface(s) 208 may enable the portable container 200to communicate with other devices. In an example, a display, such as thedisplay area 118 may be a part of the interface(s) 208.

The portable container 200 also includes a controller 210 and data 212.In an example, the controller 210 may be implemented as aproportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for accuratelyregulating the temperature of the food item. The controller 210includes, for example, an authentication engine 214, a monitoring engine216, a temperature regulation engine 218, and other engine(s) 220. Theother engine(s) 220 may include programs or coded instructions thatsupplement applications or functions performed by the portable container200. The data 212 may include temperature data 222, user data 224, andother data 226. Further, the other data 226, amongst other things, mayserve as a repository for storing data, which is processed, received, orgenerated as a result of the execution of one or more modules in thecontroller 210.

Although the data 212 is shown internal to the portable container 200,the data 212 can also be implemented external to the portable container200, where the data 212 may be stored within a database communicativelycoupled to the portable container 200.

In an implementation, the authentication engine 214 may be configured toauthenticate a user before providing access to the portable container200. In an example, to authenticate a user, the authentication engine214 may employ a biometric based authentication technique. In anotherexample, the authentication engine 214 may employ any otherauthentication mechanism to authenticate a user. Accordingly, theauthentication engine 214 may authenticate the user based on thebiometrics, such as voice, fingerprints, etc. received from the user. Inthe present implementation, the portable container 200 may include abiometric scanner (not shown). The biometric scanner may receivecredentials from the user, such as a fingerprint, a voice sample, etc.Upon receiving the credentials from the user, the authentication engine214 may compare the credentials of the user with the credentials storedin a profile of the user. The profile may be retrieved from the memory206 of the portable container 200 or from a cloud based storage.

The profile may include information pertaining to preferences of theuser with respect to the food items. The profile of the user may beaccessed every time the user is authenticated by the controller 210.Further, the profile of the user may include a journal or record ofevents pertaining to the desired temperature set for different fooditems by the user. In an example, the authentication engine 214 mayretrieve the user preferences based on the type of food item held by theportable container 200.

Once the user is authenticated, the monitoring engine 216 may perform acheck on initial parameters associated with the portable container 200.In an implementation, the initial parameters may include a chargingstatus and a power level of the charging unit 112. In an example,monitoring engine 216 may ascertain whether the portable container 200is being powered through the charging unit 112 or not. If the portablecontainer 200 is being charged via the charging unit 112, the monitoringengine 216 may enable switching ON the portable container 200. If theportable container 200 is not being charged through the charging unit112, it indicates that the power storage element 116 is powering theportable container 200.

At this stage, the monitoring engine 216 may determine a power level ofthe power storage element 116. Specifically, the monitoring engine 216may check whether the power level of the power storage element 116 isabove a pre-defined threshold value or not. In an example, thepre-defined threshold level of the power storage element 116 is 6.3Volts. If the power level of the power storage element 116 is above thepre-defined threshold value, the monitoring engine 216 may switch ON theportable container 200. If the power level of the power storage element116 is below the pre-defined threshold value, the monitoring engine 216may not switch ON the portable container 200. Further, the monitoringengine 216 may display a notification on the display area 118 indicatingthat the food item cannot be heated.

In an example, the monitoring engine 216 may also monitor a temperatureof the power storage element 116 and turn OFF power supply to theportable container 200 when a temperature of the power storage element116 rises above a pre-defined threshold range. For example, whilecharging the power storage element 116, if the temperature of the powerstorage element 116 goes above a safe threshold range, the monitoringengine 216 may cut off supply to the power storage element 116. In anexample, the monitoring engine 216 may be implemented as a NegativeTemperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistor. The NTC thermistor suspendscharging of the power storage element 116 when it detects that thetemperature of the power storage element 116 has risen above about 45degrees Celsius. In case the temperature of the power storage element116 goes beyond 60 degrees Celsius, the NTC thermistor may disable theportable container 200.

In an implementation, once the portable container 200 is switched ON andthe user has been authenticated, the temperature regulation engine 218receives an input from the user. In an example, the input may beindicative of a desired temperature of the food item that the user maywish to set. In an example, the user may provide the input to theportable container 200 through the buttons, such as the buttons 120 orthrough a voice command. The controller 210 may, based on the inputsprovided by the user and through machine learning, build a profile forthe user. In an example, the profile as created may be accessed duringthe authentication process.

The temperature regulation engine 218 may then obtain a currenttemperature of the food item within the portable container 200. In anexample, the current temperature may be obtained from the temperaturesensors 202. As mentioned above, the current temperature of the fooditem is an average of the temperatures sensed at the top portion and thebottom portion of the portable container 200. The temperature regulationengine 218 may compare the desired temperature with the currenttemperature of the food item. Based on the comparison, the temperatureregulation engine 218 may regulate power supply to the portablecontainer 200.

In an example, if the current temperature is more than the desiredtemperature, the temperature regulation engine 218 may turn OFF thepower supply to the temperature regulator 110. Turning OFF of the powersupply may also be indicated by blinking of a blue LED for every second.In another example, if the current temperature is less than the desiredtemperature, the temperature regulation engine 218 may turn ON the powersupply to the temperature regulator 110. Turning ON the power supply isindicated by a continuously ON blue LED.

In an implementation, the controller 210 may take into account ahysteresis temperature to avoid rapid turning ON and OFF of thetemperature regulator 110 when the food item inside the portablecontainer 200 is within a predefined range from the desired temperature.Upon turning ON, the power button 120-1 becomes green in color and thetemperature regulator 110 is turned ON. For example, the temperatureregulator 110 may heat the inner wall of the portable container 200which may cause the food item to heat. Further, the temperatureregulation engine 218 may continuously monitor the current temperatureof the food item within the portable container 100. Accordingly, theportable container 200 of the present subject matter facilitates inmaintaining a temperature of the food item within the container 200 asdesired by the user.

In another implementation, the temperature regulation engine 218 mayemploy machine learning techniques to identify a type of food itemwithin the portable container 200. For example, the temperatureregulation engine 218 may determine the type of the food item based on adensity or other properties associated with the food item. In anexample, the portable container 200 may include sensing devices tomeasure intensity of light passing through the food item as well as theintensity of the light being reflected from the food item. When lightfrom one or more light sources is received by the food item, the sensingdevices may measure the intensity of the light and share the same withthe temperature regulation engine 218. The sensing devices may alsodetect a wavelength at which the light is being emitted.

Based on the information, such as density received from the sensingdevices, the temperature regulation engine 218 may employ artificialintelligence and machine learning techniques to determine the type offood item within the portable container 200. In an example, thetemperature regulation engine 218 may compare the intensity measurementswith stored values in a database for a variety of known substances.Although the identification of the type of the food item is performedbased on measurement of intensity of light, other techniques may also beemployed for determining the type of the food item. Further, theportable container 200 may store the properties of the food item in thememory 206 or in the cloud storage. These properties may later bereferred for analysis, such as to compute the calories consumed by theuser.

Based on the identification of the type of the food item, a quantity ofthe food item within the portable container 200 may be determined by thetemperature regulation engine 218. Once the quantity of the food item isdetermined, the temperature regulation engine 218 may automatically setthe desired temperature of the food item. In an example, the temperatureregulation engine 218 may set the desired temperature of the food itembased on an historical behavior of the user. As mentioned earlier, thehistorical behavior, i.e., desired temperatures and corresponding fooditems may be stored within the profile of the user.

In an example, to determine the quantity of the food item, thetemperature regulation engine 218 detects an initial weight of the fooditem within the portable container 200. The initial weight may be storedin a journal maintained by the portable container 200 for a specificuser. Thereafter, the temperature regulation engine 218 may identify, atpre-defined intervals, a current weight of the food item within theportable container 200. A comparison of the initial weight and thecurrent weight of the food item provides a quantity of the food itemwithin the portable container 200.

Further, the temperature regulation engine 218 may determine a pluralityof constituents of the food item within the portable container 200 todetermine a quality of the food item. In an example, the temperatureregulation engine 218 may employ an Independent Component Analysis (ICA)technique to determine the constituents of the food item.

In an implementation, the portable container 200 may include a wirelesstransceiver 230. For example, the wireless transceiver 230 may be aWi-Fi unit, a Bluetooth®, or a Near Field Communication (NFC) unit. Thewireless transceiver 230 may enable the portable container 200 tocommunicate with an electronic device, such as a mobile phone. In anexample, the electronic devices communicate with the portable container200 through an application. The application may be accessible bydifferent operating systems, such as Android, iOS.

Once a user has downloaded the application onto the electronic device,the user may set up a connection with the portable container 200. To setup the connection, the electronic device and the portable container 100may share Short Term Keys (STKs), to encrypt a link between the twodevices. Once the user has paired with the portable container 200, theportable container 200 only receives instructions from the paired userdevice.

In an example, instructions received from the paired user device mayinclude receiving status of the food items, such as temperature of thefood item and charging status of the charging unit 112, from theportable container 200. In an example, the application may also enablethe user to check or define the desired temperature, the hysteresistemperature, heating status, battery voltage, and the like. In anexample, the application may allow the user to check the temperature ofeach temperature sensor 202 separately. For instance, Temperature 1indicates the temperature of 1^(st) temperature sensor and Temperature 2indicates the temperature of 2^(nd) temperature sensor. Further, theapplication may allow the user to check the heating or cooling status ofthe portable container 200. For example, 0 indicates that the food itemis not heating, 1 indicates that the food item is heating, and 2indicates that the charging unit 112 is charging.

Based on the settings made by the user, the application may communicatewith the portable container 200 via the wireless transceiver 230. Theuser settings may be stored in the portable container 200 as the userdata 224. In an example, when the user communicates the temperaturesettings with the portable container 200, the controller 210 of theportable container 200 may communicate with the electronic device toindicate whether or not such settings may be implemented or not. Forinstance, if the portable container 200 is on charging mode or the powerlevel of the charging unit 112 is below the pre-defined threshold value,the controller 210 may send a notification to the electronic deviceindicating the food item cannot be heated to the set temperature.

In an example, the application may also store information pertaining tothe calories contained in the food item that is being put in theportable container 200. For example, the application may retrieveinformation from a database that may include information pertaining tonutritional value of different food items. Based on the type, thequantity, and the constituents of the food item, the application maycommunicate with the database to retrieve information pertaining to thenutritional value of the food item within the portable container 200.

In an implementation, the portable container 200 may include sensors 232for monitoring physiological parameters of a user while the user isholding the portable container 200. For example, the sensors 232 maymonitor a heartbeat, a pulse rate, a blood pressure, and so on of theuser who is holding the portable container 200.

Although implementations for methods and systems for regulatingtemperature of a food item in a portable container have been describedin a language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is tobe understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to thespecific features or methods described. Rather, the specific featuresand methods are disclosed as exemplary implementation for regulatingtemperature of a food item in a portable container.

I/We claim:
 1. A portable container (100, 200) comprising: an insulativebody (102) to hold a food item, wherein the insulative body (102)comprises an inner wall and an outer wall; a temperature regulator (110)disposed between the inner wall and the outer wall of the insulativebody (102); a plurality of temperature sensors (202) disposed within theinner wall of the insulative body (102), the plurality of temperaturesensors (202) being operably coupled to the temperature regulator (110);and a controller (210) communicatively coupled to the temperatureregulator (110) to regulate the temperature of the food item based on auser input.
 2. The portable container (100, 200) as claimed in claim 1,comprising a spill-proof lid (104) removably coupled to a top portion(106) of the insulative body (102).
 3. The portable container (100, 200)as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller (210) comprises anauthentication engine (214) to allow an authenticated user to operatethe portable container (100).
 4. The portable container (100, 200) asclaimed in claim 3, wherein the authentication engine (214) comprises abiometric authentication mechanism.
 5. The portable container (100, 200)as claimed in claim 1, comprising a charging unit (112) to charge theportable container (100, 200).
 6. The portable container (100, 200) asclaimed in claim 5, wherein the charging unit (112) comprises a wirelesscoil.
 7. The portable container (100, 200) as claimed in claim 5,comprising a power storage element (116) coupled to the charging unit(112).
 8. The portable container as (100, 200) as claimed in claim 7,wherein the controller (210) comprises a monitoring engine (216) tomonitor a temperature of the power storage element (116) and turn OFFpower supply to the portable container (100, 200) when a temperature ofthe power storage element (116) rises above a pre-defined thresholdrange.
 9. The portable container (100, 200) as claimed in claim 8,wherein the monitoring engine (216) is to, ascertain that the portablecontainer (100, 200) is being powered through the power storage element(116); upon ascertaining, determine a power level of the power storageelement (116); and based on the determining that the power level of thepower storage element (116) is above a pre-defined threshold, switch ONthe portable container (100).
 10. The portable container (100, 200) asclaimed in claim 1, comprising a temperature regulation engine (218) to:identify a type of food item within the portable container (100, 200);based on the identification, determine a quantity of the food itemwithin the portable container (100, 200); and based on the determining,automatically set the desired temperature of the food item.
 11. Theportable container (100, 200) as claimed in claim 10, wherein todetermine the quantity of the food item, the temperature regulationengine (218) is to, detect an initial weight of the food item within theportable container (100, 200); store the initial weight in a journalmaintained by the portable container (100, 200) for a specific user;identify, at pre-defined intervals, a current weight of the food itemwithin the portable container (100, 200); and compare the initial weightand the current weight of the food item to determine a quantity of thefood item within the portable container (100, 200).
 12. The portablecontainer (100, 200) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the temperatureregulation engine (218) is to determine a plurality of constituents ofthe food item within the portable container (100, 200) to determine aquality of the food item.
 13. The portable container (100, 200) asclaimed in claim 1, comprising a wireless transceiver (230) tocommunicate with an electronic device.
 14. The portable container (100,200) as claimed in claim 1, comprising a plurality of sensors (232) tomonitor physiological parameters of a user while the user is holding theportable container (100, 200).